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Clean Heat Minnesota’s 2025 accomplishments
Happy New Year, Minnesota, Our resolution is to keep working to ensure Minnesota’s transition away from gas and toward safe,
Happy New Year, Minnesota,
Our resolution is to keep working to ensure Minnesota’s transition away from gas and toward safe, affordable, clean energy benefits all of us – regardless of age, race, or ZIP code.
In our first blog of 2026, we’re celebrating a year’s worth of incredible work by the communities, partners, and supporters that make up Clean Heat Minnesota. Together, we’re co-creating a state where everyone can heat, cook, and power their appliances with Midwest-made, affordable, clean energy.
Much of our work in 2025 was made possible thanks to strong partnerships with coalition member organizations — we now have over 40 members! Natalie Cook was also brought on board as Clean Heat Minnesota’s Coalition Manager, bringing a decade of experience in coalition management and organizing to the group.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulates Minnesota’s investor-owned natural gas utilities and has the power to make tremendous changes in our state’s energy landscape. Engaging with the PUC continues to be one of the most effective ways for Clean Heat Minnesota to influence Minnesota’s energy policy now and in the future.
Throughout 2025, we showed up and got engaged in the Future of Gas docket at the PUC — a main priority for our coalition. Learn more about the Future of Gas docket in our previous blog.
One of the first open questions in the Future of Gas docket is the future of Line Extension Allowance policies in Minnesota. For decades, Minnesota gas utilities have shifted the cost of expanding the gas system to existing ratepayers. We don’t think it’s fair that existing natural gas customers should subsidize adding new customers to the system, all while gas companies profit off this new investment, and Minnesotans are locked in to paying off gas infrastructure for decades to come.
Over the course of 2025, we organized our 15 coalition members to submit eight technical comments to the PUC urging regulators to end Line Extension Allowance policies. Many of these comments were submitted by organizations who don’t usually engage at the wonky regulatory level. This is a key tenet of Clean Heat Minnesota’s work: bringing new voices into the regulatory realm to make sure Minnesotans from every experience can be heard.
Our coalition members contributed to building a strong case against Line Extension Allowances at the PUC. Comments included highlighting health impacts of gas, detailed accounting of costs for consumers, climate impacts, and national trends. Read the press release here.
Coalition members also signed on to a letter from over 30 different organizations, local governments, and governmental agencies to bolster our argument: End Line Extension Allowances so ratepayers aren’t subsidizing the expansion of the gas system and increasing corporate profits.
On top of our regulatory action, we met with community members and, through workshops and presentations, successfully organized over 30 public comments from everyday Minnesotans concerned about Minnesota’s ever-expanding natural gas system.
In 2026, we anticipate the PUC will make its final decision on Line Extension Allowances. We’re proud of the work we did as a coalition this year, and look forward to expanding on it in the years to come.
More than 10 Clean Heat Minnesota coalition member groups participated in the PUC’s Thermal Energy Network Deployment Workgroup in 2025. The group consisted of 80 stakeholders from more than 50 organizations, convened by the PUC at the direction of the Minnesota Legislature to examine potential regulatory opportunities and barriers for regulated natural gas utilities to deploy thermal energy networks. Thermal energy networks provide space heating, cooling, and water heating to multiple buildings through a shared thermal loop. Coalition members presented and provided valuable feedback throughout the yearlong workgroup, contributing to the development of the final report and recommendations published by the PUC. Read the report here.
In 2025, the PUC established new gas “Integrated Resource Plan” (or IRP) frameworks for Minnesota’s three largest investor-owned gas utilities. Those utilities will now be required to file regular, forward-looking plans that analyze the best mix of resources to meet customer demand. In their analysis, utilities must consider the state’s greenhouse gas emissions goals and local government climate action plans. In July 2026, Xcel Energy will file Minnesota’s first-ever gas IRP, followed by CenterPoint in 2027, and MERC in 2028. The Commission aims to issue decisions within 18 months of each filing. Clean Heat Minnesota coalition members were actively involved in PUC filings to set these initial requirements, and are participating in stakeholder workshops hosted by utilities as they develop their plans. These early conversations are crucial — they’re where questions get asked, concerns get raised, and better ideas emerge. Clean Heat Minnesota coalition partners will continue to be at the table for all of these discussions, advocating for plans that truly serve Minnesotans, advance climate progress, and center equity. Learn more about gas IRPs more broadly here.
Clean Heat Minnesota believes that the power to transition Minnesota from gas to clean heat must be rooted in our communities—which is why deep partnerships among coalition members is crucial to our success. We host full coalition meetings monthly, as well as monthly Policy and Technical Working Group and Grassroots Working Group meetings. We also convened our first in-person, full coalition retreat in the summer of 2025.
The summer retreat brought together coalition members from across the Twin Cities metro area, rural Minnesota, and national partners with the goal of building relationships and planning what’s next. In breakout groups, we discussed our shared work and deepened cross-collaboration across regions, sectors, and industries. We know relationships with one another are the bedrock to strong campaigning, and we look forward to more opportunities like this in 2026.
One of the most exciting things about Clean Heat Minnesota is the coalition members who are rolling up their sleeves and doing the work. Here are a few key highlights from coalition members in 2025:
The American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) hosted Clean Heat Workshops and community engagement sessions with monthly meetings in Duluth, Minnesota. These meetings built relationships and community awareness around clean energy, educated the public on important clean energy topics, and strengthened networks. Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light provided insight into local climate advocacy opportunities.
Ayada Leads hosted interactive workshops and implemented an Air Quality Monitoring Project for the organization’s community. Their efforts centered the experiences of African diaspora women living in communities disproportionately affected by the health impacts of climate change, highlighting the importance of transitioning to clean energy for heating and cooking in our homes and communities. Dr Curt Norgaard, a pediatrician and public health expert, with Clean Heat Minnesota provided important insight and data interpretation with participants.
Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina (COPAL) partnered with Fresh Energy to spearhead a project to educate families about the unseen health risks posed by cooking with gas stoves. This initiative gathered real-time data and encouraged participants to take advantage of programs to replace polluting gas cooking equipment with electric alternatives that help people and the environment alike.
As we head into a new year, stay up to date by following along on our social media. Find us on Instagram, Bluesky, and Facebook, and visit our website at cleanheatmn.org — use the bar at the top to toggle between English and Spanish. And if you know an organization that might be a good fit with Clean Heat Minnesota, let’s connect! Email Natalie, Clean Heat Minnesota’s Coalition Manager at natalie[at]cleanheatmn.org.
2026 is shaping up to be another busy year and our Future of Gas work — and more! — will continue at the PUC. We will also keep working to increase awareness about the dangers of using natural gas in our homes; the benefits of home electrification; and how to engage state regulators to help ensure that Minnesota meets its climate goals with safe, affordable, and clean energy.
Happy New Year, Minnesota, Our resolution is to keep working to ensure Minnesota’s transition away from gas and toward safe,
It’s winter in Minnesota, and that means it’s game-on for holiday cooking and cold-weather comfort food.
Clean Heat Minnesota’s fight to end outdated gas utility line extension policies through public comments.